Akron Children’s employee comes to rescue of his neighbors’ newborn

When Bobbijo and Dustin Hostlers’ newborn son, Logan, began to aspirate and turn blue after taking a bottle May 9, they knew they needed help to resuscitate him.

They tried to dial 911 but they discovered with horror that the phone wasn’t working. They needed to come up with a plan B.

Desperate for help, the Hostlers sprinted over to their neighbors’ home, Jason and Crista Duncan, and began banging on the screen door.

Bobbijo Hoslter holds her newborn son, Logan, whose live was saved by Jason Duncan, pictured in the background.

“Jason came to the door and opened up his arms and just took the baby and began working to save him while Crista called an ambulance,” said Bobbijo. “I knew Jason worked at Akron Children’s but I didn’t know what he did there. He could have been a janitor for all I knew.”

Lucky for the Hostlers, Jason works in the radiology department and has been trained in pediatric CPR.

“I grabbed him out of his arms and they had brought over his nasal aspirator which they were trying to use to suction him,” said Jason. “So I grabbed it and took over. He still wasn’t doing anything so I gave him a breath and then I flipped him over onto his stomach and began patting his back, holding his head toward the ground, and then I flipped him back over and suctioned him again.”

After coming back to life once, Logan seemed to stop responding. He started turning blue again, but Jason didn’t let that deter him.

“When he started to scream and cry, I knew he was in the clear,” said Jason.

Then the ambulance arrived and EMS took Logan to Akron Children’s Hospital to be examined. After a brief admission, he was released to his parents and prescribed reflux medication.

“If they weren’t home I don’t know what we would have done, it might have been too late,” said Bobbijo. “It is kind of like a miracle that we couldn’t dial out to 911, because it was a lot faster to have Jason help us than waiting for the ambulance.”

Jason and Crista, who works in Admitting at Akron Children’s, also have children, 7-week-old Kyleigh and 3-year-old Ryleigh. They know how it would feel if the situation was reversed and their children needed assistance.

“We’re so glad we could be there for them when they needed us,” said Jason. “We’ve had our house up for sale for 2 years and we haven’t even come close yet to selling it. Now I am thinking there’s a reason we are still living here in Kenmore.”